Mr de Selliers stressed out that first cars were like motorised horse carriages in late 1890's, and the same mistake is made today by thinking that EVs are electrified ICVs. They are NOT, for two reasons:

Range: EVs are designed for short trips because of their limited battery range. For such trips, large cars are not only unpractical but they are obnoxious: energy consumption, congestion, hazard to others.

For such trips, Micro-EVs are ideal: agile in traffic, easy to park, reduced congestion, low power consumption.

Charging: It takes 5min to refill an ICV for 700km, when it takes 30min to refill 100km of an EV with ultrafast charging. However, when the refuelling infrastructure for ICVs took decades to be installed, EVs only need low-power charging at or near home, which is inexpensive.

What about long trips?

EREV:Extended-Range Electric Vehicles (such as Opel Ampera) are clean options for long trips. When batteries are exhausted, an on-board generator switches on. This is a clean solution for short trips (80% of cars' mileage) and polluting only for long trips (20%)

FCV: Fuel Cell Vehicles are also clean options for long trips, as hydrogen even produced from natural gas is emitting 70% less CO2 than equivalent ICVs. However, they are still in pilot phase.

About Plug-in EV Infrastructure

The Plug-In Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Europe is a very influential conference in the EV industry as it brings together top EV automakers and electric utilities to build a sustainable and profitable charging infrastructure.